Papa is an idol; marriage and memory loss; CM of the week: Takara Shuzo

Last month, pop idol Jin Akanishi was punished by his agency, Johnny’s & Associates, for getting married without telling them. Another Johnny’s idol, Ryo Nishikido, of the group Kanjani 8, has his handlers’ blessing in the new series “Papa-doru” (“Papa Idol”; TBS, Thurs., 9 p.m.), which, though fiction, has Nishikido playing himself.

In fact, in the show, Nishikido is secretly getting married to single mother Haruka (Yuka), and in the first episode he meets his new instant family for the first time. Haruka has three children, who fly into a panic when they learn their new father is a real idol. However, they’re also a bit suspicious as to his intentions, and he’s forced to explain how he met Haruka and how they fell in love.

Miyamoto (Yutaka Takenouchi) works in an automobile repair shop and has been happily married to Kaneko (Emi Wakui) for four years. Kaneko suffers from a blood disease, however, and undergoes an operation that, fortunately, is successful. Unfortunately, the surgery somehow plays havoc with her memory, but only that part related to her husband. (Happens every day, right?) She can’t remember who he is, the poor chap, and so he endeavors to woo her all over again.

CM of the week

Takara Shuzo: Actor Tetsuya Watari has been appearing in ads for Takara’s Sho Chiku Bai sake for years, as his image has morphed from tough-guy hero to paterfamilias. In the latest CM for Sho Chiku Bai’s new sake-in-a-pouch, he’s seen, in kimono, standing in an old railway station talking on a pay phone to someone in the Takara office. He praises the new packaging, saying that it should be “good for society.”

The old-fashioned phone, the kimono and the tram in the background signal Watari’s age. It’s not clear why he’s gone to the trouble of explaining this new product to the people who actually make it. Maybe, in line with other recent ads, he’s showing how cute dotty old people can be. “I’m about to get on the train,” he says into the phone, oblivious to the tram as it pulls out of the station.